Silicon microclusters and microfilaments have many applications which include electroluminescent display films, light-emitting diodes, resonant tunneling devices, single electronic devices, detection and analysis devices for chemical and biological agents, sintering of silicon wafers or chips, fabricating films of silicon compounds such as silicon carbide, and in the fabrication of ceramic devices. The fabrication of silicon microclusters has been accomplished by electrochemical etching of p-type silicon wafers, as described by L. T. Canham, Applied Physics Letters, 57, 1046 (1990).
Laser ablation and deposition of fine particles of some materials are known to the art, such as alumina which is described by G. P. Johnson et al. in J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 75(12), 3293-3298(1992) and ibid, 75(12), 3265-3268(1992).